SETH

1514 BF (before the flood)

 

“Watch out!”

 

I turned just in time to take a bump from a black ram. Seconds later, I was on my back with the ram’s face staring blankly down at me. Then, a large tongue smothered my nose, traveled up my forehead, and whipped my brown hair out of my face.

 

“Urgh. Get off me, Midnight!” I yelled at the male sheep and shoved him away from my face.

 

As I pushed myself up from the dirt, I heard raucous laughter from the two boys at the back of the herd. Asher and Ezra were technically my nephews even though they were a few years older than me. Until they were born, no one knew it was possible for a woman to carry two babies at the same time. My mother had told me that father had been so excited because he so rarely had the excuse to make up new words these days. “I dub them ‘twins’ because there are two of them,” Eve would say in her manliest voice, and I would laugh at her impression of my father.

 

“It’s not funny, boys,” Adam said to the twins. Their laughter died down to some light snickering. “You know how rough Midnight can be. Seth could have been hurt.”

 

“You’re always so overprotective of him, Saba,” Asher said.

 

“Yeah,” Ezra chimed in. “We’ve been knocked over by plenty of rams and you’ve never coddled us like that.”

 

“I’m not being overprotective.” Adam responded. “Seth is just new at this, so I’m training him gradually.”

 

“I’ve been in training for six months,” I told my father. “I can handle the sheep as well as anyone.”

 

“Of course you can, my boy.” He slapped me on the back jovially, and I had to grab Midnight’s horn to avoid revisiting the imprint I had already made in the ground. My skinny twelve-year-old frame couldn’t hold up to the strength of a man who had been working for over one hundred and forty years yet, but I was determined to live up to the legacy left behind by the brother I was meant to replace. 

 

“Don’t worry about your cousins,” Adam continued as we began to move along with the sheep again. I glanced back at them. Ezra was attempting to mount one of the sheep, while Asher tried to push him off. “It’s hard for them to accept that you’ll be their boss someday, not to mention the future head of the family. But that is the path God laid out for you as our first son born after Abel was killed.”

 

“I know how much it burdens you, Father, that you lost your two oldest sons that day,” I said to him. “I will never stop working until I am as good as you and Abel!”

 

Adam stopped and stared at me. “Don’t do that, Seth. Don’t put that pressure on yourself. God had to teach me from that tragedy that I had expected too much from Cain and made it worse by showing favoritism to Abel. I stayed angry with Cain for years after we found out the truth, but I realized that we all affect each other. While Cain is responsible for what he did and he will have to deal with that, I made choices that added to the problem, so I can’t put all the blame on him. I’m not going to do the same thing to you. You will be a good leader because God will make you into one, not because you need to be as good as anyone else.”

 

We walked alongside the herd in silence for a while. I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t imagine how it had affected him that his oldest son had killed his favorite son, then lied about it and hid the body. My father’s mortality had become more real to him that day. God had told him that he would die when my parents had been removed from the garden, but seeing human death in the form of someone he loved made it clear that a plan for the family’s future needed to be made. I had never known either of my oldest brothers, yet I was chosen to be raised as the future tribal chief because I was the next male to be born.

 

“Saba, Saba!” My thoughts were interrupted by my twin nephews running up to us. “We were counting the sheep and Wildflower is missing from the herd.”

 

Adam put a palm over his face and groaned. “You boys know you’re supposed to pay extra attention to the lambs,” he told them, “especially one you named Wildflower.”

 

“Watching Wildflower was Ezra’s job,” Asher said.

 

“What?” Ezra punched Asher in the shoulder. “No, it wasn’t! It was both of our job.”

 

“You don’t remember the deal we made this morning?” Asher asked. “You were supposed to watch Wildflower today and I’ll give you that shiny yellow rock I found.”

 

“I didn’t agree to that,” Ezra responded. “Why would I want your stupid rock?”

 

“Enough!” Adam boomed. “Cast blame later. Who will volunteer to go look for the lamb?”

 

Asher and Ezra each pointed at each other. I rolled my eyes. “I’ll do it,” I said.

 

“Hold on,” my father said while the twins shared a high five behind his back. “You’ve never gone after a missing sheep on your own.”

 

“There’s a first time for everything,” Asher said. 

 

“Let the chosen one show what he’s made of,” Ezra chimed in.

 

We both glared at them. “I can handle it, Abba. You can trust me.”

 

He put a hand on my shoulder. “I know you can. Be quick and may the Lord be with you.”

 

With that, I ventured back the way we came, crook in hand. It had been a while since I had seen Wildflower among the herd. He had been bouncing along, occasionally picking his spots to headbutt the other sheep in the side. Most ignored him since he was still a small lamb, but sometimes he would pick a fight with one of the older, grumpy rams and get a nasty bump. Father said it was good for him. It taught him his role in the social hierarchy.

 

Unfortunately, that was also when he tended to wander off. As long as he was testing himself against the others, it kept his attention where he was supposed to be. The frustration of being put in his place led him to get distracted by pretty flowers or birds. That was why one of the boys were always assigned to Wildflower duty. They knew what would happen if they didn’t keep an eye on him.

 

I backtracked along our usual path, listening for Wildflower. Once he realized he was lost and alone, he would usually start crying out to be found. As I expected, an unmistakable bleating came from beyond the trees of a forest we had walked past. After a time of pushing aside branches and tall grass, I found him ambling about, eating colorful flowers between cries for help. I called Wildflower’s name as I approached. At the sight of me, he began dancing and hopping in circles around me. His bleats became increasingly louder as I tried to get him to hold still so I could pick him up. Finally, I managed to drape him over my shoulders. 

 

I turned to head back to the herd, but I was greeted with a pair of yellow eyes. Below the eyes extended a long snout covered in gray fur and below that was two rows of large, sharp teeth. A low growl emanated from between the teeth. The wolf took slow deliberate steps in our direction. Rustling sounds on either side of us revealed two more wolves advancing from the left and right. I clung to Wildflower’s legs with one hand and held out my crook toward the wolf in front of me.

 

“God, help me,” I whispered.

 

As I prepared myself for the fight of what was left of my life, a deafening roar blasted from behind me. A mesh of yellow and brown fur pounded on the wolf to my left. Without hesitation, the other two wolves left me and joined the fight against the lion. For an undefinable amount of moments, I watched the brawl in awe. Then a thought entered my head as if it had been yelled in my ear. Run! I came to the decision that this was good advice and started moving as fast as I could while holding Wildflower across my shoulders. 

 

Luckily, I hadn’t ventured far from the edge of the woods, and we were back in the sunlight within minutes. I could still hear the sounds of the animals fighting so I didn’t slow my pace. I was panting by the time we returned to the herd and could finally put Wildflower down. He bounced around with joy to be back in familiar company. 

 

“Took you long enough.” Asher and Ezra flanked me from both sides as I tried to catch my breath. “We’ve been waiting forever.”

 

“Where’s Father?” I asked ignoring their comments. 

 

“Near the front where he always is.”

 

I took off to catch up with him. “Watch Wildflower,” I shouted over my shoulder. 

 

“Seth.” Adam smiled when he saw me approach. “Did you bring back the lamb?”

 

“We need to get the sheep moving fast, Father,” I said hurriedly. “I think there’s a lion coming.” I told him my story trying to convey the urgency that we needed to leave before the lion came for us.

 

Father looked past me in the direction I had come from. “What makes you think it’s the lion coming and not the wolves?” He asked. 

 

“What?” I was confused by his lack of motivation. 

 

“You said the lion was coming, not the wolves.”

 

“Well, I guess the wolves could have won. There was more of them. The lion just seemed stronger,” I said.

 

“Because he was,” Father said. “I believe God sent the lion to protect you. He’s not coming for our sheep.”

 

“How do you know that?” I asked.

 

“Look.” He made me turn around and pointed.

 

Beyond the sheep, and beyond the twins trading shoulder punches, in the distance I could see a lone lion sitting in the grass and watching. His brown mane blew in the wind and large eyes stared back at me. Then, without a sound, he stood and ambled away.